Double Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra, the poster boy of Indian athletics, continued his superb form as he won the inaugural edition of the Neeraj Chopra Classic 2025, a World Athletics gold-level event, with a best throw of 86.18m at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Saturday.

Kenya’s Julius Yego finished second with a season-best throw of 84.51m, while Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage came third with a best effort of 84.34m.

Chopra, who was welcomed by 14,593 people with thunderous roars and cheers, began with a foul but took the lead with his second attempt of 82.99m.

The Indian megastar, who won gold at the Tokyo Olympic Games and followed it up with a silver medal in Paris in 2024, then registered the biggest throw of the night with his third attempt of 86.18m, thrilling the Bengaluru crowd. He followed it up with a foul in the fourth attempt and an 84.07m effort in the fifth, before rounding off the event with a throw of 82.22m.

“Thank you, Bengaluru, for coming tonight. There was a headwind for us today, so the marks weren’t that big. But this was such a different experience for me — I had to do so many different things apart from competing. We will try to add more events. I am so happy tonight, my family is here too. I was a little nervous, not too happy with the result, but happy. Thank you so much,” Chopra said afterwards.

Chopra began his season by winning the Potch Invitational Meet in Potchefstroom, South Africa, in April before finishing second at the Doha Diamond League, where he breached the elusive 90m mark with a 90.23m throw to reset the Indian national record.

He then finished second again at the Janusz Kusociński Memorial in Poland and followed it up with a first-place finish at the Paris Diamond League meet last week. He also claimed the top spot with an 88.16m throw at the Ostrava Golden Spike 2025, along with another throw of 85.29m.

— IANS